Mentioned in the Pooh Sticks’ “On Tape” (1988), in order of appearance:

1. “Falling And Laughing,” Orange Juice (Postcard Records, 1980)
2. “Songs For Children,” The Pastels (Whaam! Records, 1982)
3. Records by Sky Saxon
4. Records by The Velvet Underground
5. Head Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, The Monkees (Colgems, 1968)
6. “Whole Wide World,” The Soup-Dragons (Subway Organization, 1986)
7. Records by The Ronettes

In the verses, Hue Pooh Stick recites, in a mode of oneupmanship, his most prized musical possessions: “I’ve got ‘Falling and Laughing’ …” The chorus punch-line, “… on tape!,” cheekily takes apart the personal significance of music-ownership in an environment of virtually limitless and costless reproduction (all about the Walter Benjamins). The meaning of rarity is a central point — the original Postcard, Whaam! and Subway Organization singles are notoriously rare — and this emphasizes the diminution of that stature that is imposed by replication on cassette. The absurdity of the claim is cute, but its message is ultimately prescient, and bracing relative to the limitations of the process in comparison to its present equivalent (e.g., the absence of degradation in the duplication of digital files, the instantaneity and ubiquity of file-sharing).